by Debbie Mason
One look at Sophie’s face and Griffin figured her argument would carry more weight than his. So he got out of the Jeep and left her to it. He weaved his way through the emergency vehicles, the flashing lights illuminating the crowd gathered along the rocky incline above the docks.
He spotted Ava. The wind whipped around her long, curly hair, snowflakes dotting the dark strands. His dad stood beside her. Her Aunt Rosa stood at her other side. The older woman from earlier today was there, too, as well as a group of younger women who had shops on Main Street. Griffin knew from his family and from what he’d seen for himself that Ava didn’t have much of a social life. A sharp contrast to the girl who used to be the most popular girl at Harmony High. Ava probably couldn’t see it, but these women, these people, they were here for her.
Several of them turned as he approached, giving him half-smiles in greeting, a couple of Hey, Griffin’s rising above the wind and the chatter of the crowd.
He returned their greetings and approached his dad and Ava. She raised her gaze to meet his. The guilt he’d been denying sucker punched him in the stomach. “I’m sorry,” he said.
She nodded, tears swimming in her bottle-green eyes, her chin trembling as though she tried to keep them in check. He cupped her cheek with his gloved hand and stroked it with his thumb. “If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll bring him back to you.”
Her eyes widened, and she grabbed his hand, her fingers tightening around it. “You’re going out with the Coast Guard?”
“Yeah.” He glanced over his shoulder. Sully was waving him over to where he stood at the end of the dock. “I gotta get going.”
She looked at him as though memorizing his face, a tear sliding down her cheek and onto their joined hands. “Be careful.”
He smiled. “Always.”
His dad pulled him in for a hug, whispering in his ear, “Don’t be a hero. If he’s…Look after yourself, son.”
He knew what his dad was getting at but couldn’t bring himself to say. Not with Ava standing right there. Griffin couldn’t make that promise. Dead or alive, Gino was coming home to her. “I’m good at what I do. You don’t need to worry about me, Dad.”
“Wait until you have kids of…” His father winced as though realizing that was unlikely to happen. Ava had lost their baby seven months into her pregnancy. After two failed marriages, Griffin wasn’t looking to get married again or start a family.
He gave his dad’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze and began walking away.
“Wait.” Ava’s aunt caught up to him. With her curly, dark hair, Rosa DiRossi reminded him of Ava.
“I really gotta go, Mrs. DiRossi.”
“Sí, I know.” She took his hand and turned it to place a gold chain with a medal in his palm, closing his fingers over it. “St. Peter, he’s the patron saint of fishermen. He will protect you.” She glanced at Ava, then looked up at him. “You did a good thing. It needed to be said.”
He appreciated Rosa’s support. Guilt was riding him hard. He didn’t realize until then how much he’d needed someone to tell him he’d done the right thing. He bent and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Rosa.” He wasn’t sure she’d feel that way once word got out what Gino intended to do.
As though she’d read his mind, she said, “This was his choice. If you must make one, you come home safe.”
“Gallagher.” Sully waved him over as the lights from the forty-seven-foot MLB—motorized lifeboat—came into view.
Griffin put the chain in his pocket. “Take care of her, Rosa,” he said, and then started to jog down the dock.
“Griffin!”
He stopped with a sigh, turning to his grandmother and brother, who hurried down the dock. When they reached him, he kissed his grandmother, hugged his brother, and promised to be careful. “Now, I really do have to go.”
Liam held his gaze. “No heroics, big brother.”
Losing their mom and sister to a drunk driver on a cold October night had left its mark on Griffin and his brothers. One minute their mom and sister were there, and in the next, they were gone.
“Any more family members to see you off?” Sully asked with a grin when Griffin reached him. He drew Griffin in for a one-arm hug. “Not under the best of circumstances, but it’s good to see you, buddy. It’s been a while.”
“Too long.” Griffin rarely came home. There were too many memories in Harmony Harbor. It was easier dealing with them in his nightmares than being blindsided by them when he came home.
As the cutter cruised up to the dock, Sully introduced Griffin to the five-man crew. They wore orange wet-weather gear, helmets, and black goggles. “Griffin’s going to take the lead on the rescue.” When the petty officer looked like he might voice an objection, Sully lifted his chin to where the searchlights lit up the heavy seas and breaking surf. “He’s a decorated Navy SEAL, Johnson.”
That seemed to be enough for the petty officer, who began giving orders to the rest of the crew. Griffin boarded and immediately headed belowdecks to get changed. He checked the gear, choosing to go with a dry suit instead of a full wet suit. Once he was ready, he made his way to the enclosed bridge. The lights of Harmony Harbor winked behind them. Hampered by the winds and surf, Griffin estimated they were less than a mile from shore. “Any sign of him?” he asked Johnson, who operated the cutter.
Gino probably had a good hour on them, but given his drunken state and his physical limitations, Griffin figured he would have wasted at least forty of those extra minutes just to get the boat under way.
Johnson shook his head in response to Griffin’s question. “If we find anything, it’s most likely to be wreckage. Don’t know the locals well. I just transferred to HHCG a couple weeks ago. But seriously, the guy must have had a death wish to go out tonight.”
Gale-force winds and four-foot waves pummeled the cutter and hampered visibility. His gaze searching the dark and stormy seas, Griffin said, “I think he does.”
Johnson swore under his breath and then asked, “You know the guy?”
Griffin understood the anger underlying the question. They were risking their lives for a man who didn’t care about his. “My ex-father-in-law. He took out his best friend’s boat, the Lady Lou. She’s a green twenty-foot wooden Faroe, old but seaworthy. Just like DiRossi. He knows what he’s doing. He grew up on these waters. He was a commercial fisherman for about thirty years.”
“So if we find him, you’re going to talk him out of it? That why the chief sent you?”
Griffin was the last person Gino would listen to. “Sully needed a swimmer, and I needed to at least try and save the old man.” Now they had to find him. If he was close enough to Twilight Bay, the chances of them getting to him in time…“How far out are we?”
“About ten—” Johnson broke off to focus on steering through the breaking surf. As if they were a toy boat, the wave picked them up and slammed them down. From the chatter coming over the radio, the other rescue team was facing a lot worse. The waters off the Cape were notorious—the Bermuda Triangle of the North Shore.
“Man overboard!”
The shout wasn’t coming from the radio. Johnson powered down as Griffin ran from the wheelhouse.
“There!” one of crew shouted, grabbing a life ring.
Within seconds, Griffin had sized up the situation. The young auxiliary member in the water was inexperienced and panicked. There was only one way he was going to make it out alive. Griffin dove into the churning, frigid water. He came up about fifteen feet from the kid. If he didn’t act quickly, the sea would pull them farther apart.
“Hey!” Griffin shouted, raising an arm to get the kid’s attention in hopes of calming him down. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. He was beyond reason, screaming and choking on the water. Griffin swam toward him. He kept his body a good distance away so the kid didn’t drag him under. Griffin grabbed the front of the jacket with his left hand, then, with his right, delivered a measured blow to knock him unconscious.
Griffin got him in a resc
ue hold, battling the wind and waves to get them safely to the boat. One of the crew members grabbed the kid while another helped Griffin over the side. Breathing hard, he lay flat out for a minute before hauling himself to his feet. The kid was already coming around.
“We’ve got it from here,” one of the crew members assured him while another half dragged the kid toward the victim’s shelter. As Johnson powered up the engines, Griffin leaned over the rail, looking for some sign of the Lady Lou. When he didn’t see any, he made his way belowdecks to strip out of the dry suit and pull on another one. He grabbed a thermal blanket and headed back to the bridge. The petty officer glanced over his shoulder as the door slammed closed behind Griffin.
“Glad we had you with us, Gallagher. Nice work out there.”
“That kid had no business being on board tonight. What the hell was Sully thinking?” He planned to ask his friend the same question when they got back to shore.
“Chief didn’t have much say in the matter. The kid you just rescued is Admiral Donohue’s great-grandson. Recognize the name?”
Everyone in town knew the Donohue name, and the Admiral. The old man looked like Colonel Sanders of the chicken empire. The family had been in Harmony Harbor almost as long as Griffin’s. The Admiral was a legendary figure in the Coast Guard. “Thought the old man died.”
“Still kicking. Drops by the station every couple of days. He’s determined that at least one member of his family will be with the Guard before he dies. If anything had happened to the kid, the chief would have gotten his ass handed to him.”
“I might just hand old man Donohue his. He didn’t put just his great-grandson’s life at risk tonight.”
“Let me know when you do. I’d like…” Johnson squinted. “You see that?”
Griffin leaned forward. “It’s the Lady Lou. She’s taking on water.”
“Looks like. She’s wedged on a rock. Too dangerous to bring the cutter in close enough to board. We’ll use the life raft.” Johnson relayed the plan to the other members of the crew through their headsets. One of them scrambled onto the outer bridge. Gripping the rail, the crew member announced the Coast Guard’s arrival and rescue plan to Gino through the megaphone.
They were close enough that the searchlight clearly lit up the boat. Griffin made out Gino, watching their approach from where he lay outside the wheelhouse, propped against the side. The tension that had been stringing Griffin’s muscles tight lessened at the sight. He wouldn’t have to tell Ava that her father died tonight. He was minutes away from fulfilling his promise to her.
Griffin headed for the door. “I’ll give them a hand with the life raft.”
“What the hell is he doing?” Johnson said.
The crewman was yelling in the megaphone. “Stay down, sir! Remain on the floor!”
Griffin turned to see Gino dragging himself up the side of the boat.
Chapter Seven
His eyes locked on Gino, Griffin willed the life raft over the next wave. They were still too far out. If he went over now…A wall of water crashed over them, and Griffin lost sight of Gino for a matter of seconds. It was all it took. When his vision cleared, Gino had managed to pull himself halfway over the side. One more good pull…
“Sit your ass down, old man!” Griffin yelled, trying to make himself heard over the howling winds and crash of the surf. Gino’s head came up, turning their way. That’s it; just a minute or two more was all Griffin needed. “Don’t do it. Think about Ava!”
The Lady Lou dipped and rolled, and Gino went over the side. There was barely a splash as he slid into the water.
Griffin cursed, signaled he was going in, and rolled over the side of the life raft. A wave lifted Gino from the water, flinging him against the side of the boat. Mind blank of anything but saving the old man, Griffin powered through the water. A foot from where Gino disappeared, he dove deep. Even with the lights from the cutter and life raft, the water was dark and murky, offering no sign of Gino.
Griffin’s lungs burned the deeper he dove. He stopped swimming, turning in a circle to search the dark depths. He was beginning to wonder how long he’d be able to hold out when he spotted something. Four powerful strokes brought him to the unconscious man. Wrapping his arms around Gino, Griffin kicked his way to the watery light on the surface. They broke through the churning water several feet from the lifeboat. Griffin pushed Gino’s upper body into the boat, then lifted his legs. One of the crew was working on him when Griffin finally managed to pull himself into the raft. Gino’s heart had stopped.
“We didn’t go to all this trouble just to lose you, old man,” Griffin said through clenched teeth as his body reacted to the cold and rush of adrenaline. He had basic medical training and took over chest compressions.
He felt a flutter of a pulse at the same time he heard a familiar whoop whoop. “Thank Christ,” he muttered. The Coast Guard helicopter had a defibrillator on board; the cutter didn’t. As they reached the cutter, the chopper hovered overhead. Within minutes, Gino was strapped into the lowered basket and on his way to North Shore General.
By the time Griffin and Sully finally arrived at the hospital, it was well past midnight. The late hour and snowstorm didn’t seem to matter to the press who were gathered outside the doors leading into the trauma center.
“Play nice,” Sully warned him.
“I’m too tired to be nice,” Griffin grumbled. He didn’t add that he didn’t want to waste time answering questions he’d already answered down on the docks. He wanted to see Ava and check on Gino. They got word he’d coded a second time on the flight back. Last they heard, Gino was in critical but stable condition.
“Yeah, two cold water rescues in one night is enough to take it out of anyone. Old man like you must be bagged,” Sully said with a grin.
Griffin flipped him off. Five minutes later, he was close to flipping off the reporters who wanted a minute-by-minute replay of both rescues. Knowing him as well as he did, Sully took him by the arm. “That’ll be all for now, folks. Mr. Gallagher—”
“Is a true hero,” said an older man with a gleaming head of white hair, batting the reporters aside with his cane to make his way to Griffin. It was the Admiral.
Out of the corner of his mouth, Sully said, “Let it go for now.”
Griffin nodded. He’d learned his lesson. He didn’t plan to embarrass the old man in front of the press. He’d talk to him about his great-grandson later. In private.
The Admiral gave Griffin a hardy slap on the back. “We breed our men tough here in Harmony Harbor. Gallagher is a prime example of the best of the best. A true Guardsman. We’re proud to call him a member of our Coast Guard family.”
Griffin raised an eyebrow at Sully, who was trying to keep a straight face. “Just go with it or you’ll be stuck arguing with him for an hour. From firsthand experience, you won’t win,” his friend said loud enough for only Griffin to hear.
“Reminds me a little of myself. You’ve probably heard…”
Sully nudged Griffin, and the two of them escaped into the warmth of the hospital while the Admiral regaled the reporters with stories of his youthful exploits. “You realize he’s going to be on my case to hire you, right? So what do you say you do a bro a major and accept my offer?”
Sully had offered him a job as soon as the cutter docked and again when they were driving to the hospital. Griffin had said thanks but no thanks both times. It wasn’t that he found the idea of working for the Coast Guard unappealing. It was the idea of moving back to Harmony Harbor.
So he wasn’t sure if Sully had purposefully set out to put him on the spot just now when he made the offer loud enough for Griffin’s approaching brother, father, and grandmother to hear. He knew they had because the three of them were looking at him with hope shining from their faces, and damned if he didn’t want to say yes for them. As hard as it was to be in Harmony Harbor, it was just as hard to be away from his family. He’d missed out on a lot—time with his great-grandmother that
he couldn’t get back, and his Grams and father weren’t getting any younger.
Then his eyes went to the real reason he was second-guessing his decision not to accept the job—Ava. She stood with her back to him between the waiting room and admissions desk. Her Aunt Rosa, Dana, Sophie, and the older woman in the winter white coat were with her.
Once Gino was airlifted off the cutter and on his way to the hospital, Griffin had had time to think. Whether it was out on a storm-tossed ocean or on one of his many missions as a SEAL, there was always a chance he wouldn’t make it back. Sometimes, like tonight, it made him reevaluate his life, where he was going and what he regretted most. One of his biggest regrets was letting Ava go. He sometimes thought he could have fought harder. But at the time, he’d been shell-shocked, and then angry, and then hurt. As tonight had proven, his feelings for her weren’t all in the past. He found himself wondering if they had a shot at a second chance.
“Son?” his father said, looking concerned.
Griffin drew his eyes off Ava, at the same time speculating on how much of the conversation he had missed. “Sorry, I’m a little out of it. What did you say, Dad?”
“That as long as Sully was offering you a desk job, I think you should take it.”
“He couldn’t pay me enough to be a desk jockey. Don’t start getting your hopes up. I haven’t said yes.”
Liam cocked his head. “But you haven’t said no?”
“He has, twice. So I’m taking this as a good sign. Keep working on him, folks. I’m going to speak to Ava before heading out.” Sully shook Griffin’s hand. “All kidding aside, that was one hell of a performance out there tonight. We’d be honored to have you as a member of our team. Plus, I could use a good wingman at the bars.”
As Sully walked away, Kitty wrapped her arms around Griffin’s waist. “I’m so very proud of you and so very happy you came back to us unharmed.” She lifted her head from his chest. “But do you think you might consider staying onshore? It’s not easy being the grandmother of Harmony Harbor’s heroes.”